


Old Friends, New Enemies

by Jaspersfic



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Chess Metaphors, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Manipulative Nick Fury, Moral Dilemmas, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-06 21:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3148892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspersfic/pseuds/Jaspersfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pierce survived as Fury's prisoner, and now they move their pieces into play as they tangle with morality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Friends, New Enemies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eatingcroutons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatingcroutons/gifts).



> A gift for eatingcroutons, based on this post: http://eatingcroutons.tumblr.com/post/99516058211/but-consider-au-where-alexander-pierce-doesnt

**Ten days after the Potomac Incident.**

Fury was still struggling to walk after the bullet that had blasted through his wall and nearly taken out his heart, but he wasn't going to give up now. The world was crashing about around his ears, but there were parts he had saved. Agents that were still loyal to him, and friends he could still trust.

 

There were also friends he couldn't trust. People that once, foolishly, he might have trusted. But then, Pierce had been good. Pierce had fooled the world. He shouldn't have fooled Fury. Fury was meant to be the best, and the best didn't get beaten.

 

With an angry sigh, he pushed open the first door, revealing the cell beyond. It was small and plain, with only a few paperback books and a blanket. Pierce was wearing plain black clothes, not his usual suit. Fury had let him have a belt. Pierce was never going to be a suicide risk. He was too smart, too angry, too determined for that. Pierce was sat on the bed, one of the books on his lap. He didn't look up as Fury approached.

 

"Hello Nick."

"Alex." Fury replied. "You like your new home?"

"Can't complain, it's pretty spacious..." Pierce shrugged, and now his eyes met Fury's. "If it had been down to me, well, I'd have shot you. I guess you aren't that merciful."

"Not while you still have information we can use."

"You tell yourself that Nick." Pierce answered, stretching and leaning back against the wall. "If that's what gets you through the day... we all need our little lies."

 

"You will tell us. You might think you won't, but in time you will. You of all people should know that. You might fight, but in the end you will give in.”

"Oh will I?" Pierce shook his head, almost fond. "You know, you really should just get rid of me. That would be the smart move... but no. It's just like that story you love about your granddaddy. If he had any sense at all, well, he'd have had his hand on the gun. Been ready to shoot, not just threaten."

 

Fury glared, and rubbed at his forehead. He didn't have time to deal with this today. He just needed to confirm that Pierce was alive. He had done exactly that, and now he could go.

 

 

**Thirty eight days after the Potomac Incident**

SHIELD was in pieces. It had been falling apart, and now it was caught up in vicious fighting, faction against faction as each side fought to control the bases. Some had been secured by SHIELD, and some had been lost. Many of their best agents were dead, and some that Fury had regarded highly had let their true colours show. He ached. Romanoff had taken off, and he was left trying to manipulate the situation whilst officially being dead.

 

It had been so busy the last four weeks he hadn't been able to see Pierce. It didn't matter - Pierce would still have food and water delivered, and Starch tech monitored his vital signs. He was still alive, and had been reading a lot. Fury had better things to do than babysit his pet megalomaniac. Eventually though, he got some time to himself. Time to himself had never sat well. It made him think too much, and eventually he headed down to the basement once more, pushing open the door.

 

"Did you really think it would be an easy victory? That all of human kind would just let HYDRA take over and impose order."

"There needn't be any letting involved." Pierce answered coldly, barely acknowledging Fury for all that he was the first human to visit in four weeks. "When Insight had been launched, well... that would be the end of it. They would have to obey. They would obey, and the violence would be over."

 

"You mean other than the death lasers shooting from the sky?"

"Other than the death lasers. But of course, we'd only need to kill a few. Make an example... you went down the merciful route, and for that, well... you're going to need quite the body count. We'd have killed a few thousand, maybe more. But then we would have won. Now, men and women fight and die over the smallest patches of land, and they will continue to do so. They need order Nick. They need order, and you aren't the one to give it to them."

 

"They fight for themselves." Fury spat. "They fight because they know damn well what's worth fighting for Secretary. Because they want to be alive, not just living. And maybe we've got the higher death count, but at least I can look at myself in the mirror."

"With the one eye you managed to keep." Pierce shot back. "And speaking of what you've managed to keep, I really would recommend you check security at the Playground. It would be a disaster for you if that fell into the wrong hands."

 

Fury shook his head.

"I've got other things to do Alex. Just know that I stand by my choices. I'm not ashamed of what I'm asking my men to do."

"I wasn't ashamed either." Pierce answered, putting his book to one side and gazing up at Fury. "And I sleep easier at night knowing what we tried."

 

 

**Fifty three days after the Potomac Incident**

It turned out that Pierce had been right about the Playground. Some of those running security had been seconded to Strike, and were waiting to see which way the fight went before they played their hand. Those agents had been removed.

 

Fury didn't like it, but it made sense that Pierce would have known every detail of HYDRA’s plans. He was like a chess player, always had to be several moves ahead. Fury went to see him a few days later, wanting to know how Pierce would react to the knowledge he had handed SHIELD another victory.

 

Pierce seemed to be engrossed in his book when Fury first arrived, not raising his head for a long time.

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." He murmured, finger skimming along the page.

"I know for a fact no one is stupid enough to leave you with the Art of War Secretary, so don't pretend."

 

"I know it off by heart... there's a lot of useful advice there Nick. I know you like it as well. What about the idea that you should let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt?"

"I think that's all well and good, but not much damn help for a man locked up in a cell."

"Well, that's what I'd want you to think, isn't it?" Pierce asked, putting his book to one side and looking up at him.

"Maybe, but I know you haven't left this room." Fury answered, glancing up at the camera.

 

"Why go to all the effort of keeping me alive Nick? You think I'm going to tell you about HYDRA? It can't be easy, keeping me hidden as your world is torn apart, so why the effort. You think I'm just going to roll over and give you everything..." He chuckled softly. "Maybe once, but that was years ago, and I fooled you even then."

"That isn't why you're here."

"Then why? If you're so determined to keep me alive, you should at least make sure I have decent conversation. And suitable reading material while you are at it."

 

Fury shook his head slightly, no longer feeling in any way inclined to thank Pierce for his advice. Whatever game Pierce thought he was playing, well, he would struggle to play it without an audience.

 

 

**One hundred and three days after the Potomac Incident**

Director Coulson had confirmed that Agents Simmons and Morse were safely back in SHIELD, and for now Fury could relax a little. He could take a few days to adjust his strategies, having lost his bishop in a gamble that had somehow paid off.

 

He felt more confident than ever as he walked inside, finding Pierce sat on his bed once more, reading. Fury had looked on the tapes, and he knew that it wasn't that Pierce remained there all the time. His days were full of movement, pacing around his small cell, making himself stay fit - he might have lacked the energy or ability for push ups, but he was still physically working hard. But whenever Fury approached, he settled back down with his books.

 

"Nick." Pierce greeted him, his voice a low purr. "I've been wondering when you'd turn up, I'm guessing my boys have been keeping you rather busy, hmm?"

"I'm here now." Fury pointed out, tapping his foot. He wasn't in the mood for Pierce's little affectations today.

"Well, since you're here, I don't suppose you could get me a new book? I've read these cover to cover... a copy of the history of Captain America would be good, or perhaps some conspiracy theories."

Fury snorted, fighting back a wry smile at that. They both knew that Pierce wasn't the kind to be taken in by conspiracies.

"I come with something better than books Alex. I've got news about how the fight is going... your 'boys' really aren't anywhere near as talented as you think they are."

"Well, none of them have a patch on you." Pierce paused for a moment, teeth brushing against his lower lip. "Well... perhaps Morse. She's a bright girl that one, she'll go far."

 

"Morse?" Fury asked, shaking his head. "Bobbi Morse? Hunter's ex-wife..." He laughed to himself. "She's one of ours. She has been the whole time."

Pierce's lip twitched for a moment, in something that could have been mistaken for a snarl. A moment later it was gone, and his face was impassive once more.

"We had plans in place for this." He answered, glancing down, long eyelashes throwing shadows on his cheeks. "We had plans. Any treachery... any betrayal, it won't be enough to bring us down. We were prepared for it."

 

"Of course you were." Fury snorted and shook his head once more. It was strange, seeing Pierce so shaken, so startled. He could understand the other man's shock. Pierce had been taken in by Bobbi. She had done well, worked hard and fooled HYDRA just like she was meant to. Now, Pierce was learning what it was like to not be in control, and that knowledge filled Fury with a cold, angry satisfaction. "It doesn't matter if you were prepared or not. You lost."

 

 

**One hundred and thirty nine days after the Potomac Incident**

"What is it this time Nick?" Pierce asked. The books on his shelf now were new - nothing particularly provocative, just ones that Fury remembered him reading when they had been young. "You look almost..." The prisoner frowned, gesturing towards Fury. "You run here?"

"Found out something I thought you might want to know."

 

"I highly doubt anything that you have to tell me is going to be worth you running with your bad lung." Pierce answered with a smirk. "It isn't like I'm going to wander off anywhere if you leave me alone."

"Oh, this was." Fury smirked. "We've been going through all of the files Romanoff dumped."

"So helpful of her." Pierce shook his head, and yawned. "And?"

"And we found the list of Insight's targets."

"You were on that list Nick. Remember what I said? I always planned to kill you. I don't believe in keeping prisoners, not like this."

 

"Well, I was." Fury agreed. "But then, so were a lot of people." He rested his hand against the wall, and took slow deep breaths. He didn't like to admit it, but Pierce was right - he really shouldn't have run. His side was agony. Still, he had and now he had to tell Pierce what he had discovered, to watch his reaction. "Including Rebecca Pierce."

 

Alex didn't disappoint. He looked startled, frozen for a moment. Then he moved, putting his book to one side, and then to Fury and getting to his feet. He walked to the transparent wall, reaching out with one hand to support himself against it. It was the first time he had stood in front of Fury since he had come here.

"Becky?" Pierce's voice sounded soft, startled, and his skin looked pale.

"Miss Rebecca Nicola Pierce. was one of Insight's targets." Fury repeated, looking straight into Pierce's eyes, only the thick glass separating them. "In the first wave no less. Seen as a potential threat to HYDRA."

 

Pierce hesitated, then turned his back and walked over to his bed. He sat down slowly.

"Of course, because Insight never launched, Miss Pierce is safe." Fury pointed out. "She's taken on a new identity to keep herself out of the way of the remains of HYDRA, but she's still alive. I hear she's found herself a new boyfriend, and they seem happy... Alex, surely you can see your cause was madness. She's your daughter for fucks sake."

 

"It..." There was a moment when Pierce paused, his mouth open and tongue dabbing at his lips before he continued. "It would have been worth it. My daughter's life for the lives of hundreds." He took another breath, and lifted his head to meet Fury's gaze. "It would be worth it."

"You've been doting over Becky since we met Alex. If you weren't even going to protect her, who the hell were you trying to keep safe?"

"I was trying to keep humankind safe." Pierce shot back. "I was trying to save lives. Trying to make things right. Make things better. And I wanted Becky to benefit from it, yes, I did. But in the end... She's not worth more than all of humanity."

 

"If that's what you think..." Fury paused. "If I was you, I would think long and hard about which side was doing what you wanted." He turned and headed away once more, leaving Pierce to his thoughts.

 

 

**One hundred and seventy days since the Potomac Incident**

Fury descended the stairs to his hidden cell, humming jingle bells to himself and carrying a bottle of Chardonnay in one hand, and two glasses in the other. He felt oddly festive. Of course, his initial plan had been to visit Pierce on Christmas - he had nothing better to do that day. But then Stark had managed to disappear off the face of the planet, and things had become complicated. So instead, he would see him today.

 

Pierce was sat on the edge of the bed once more as Fury arrived, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't think it can be Christmas."

"We're a little late." Fury agreed, holding his hands behind his back. "But still, I thought you might appreciate doing something to celebrate."

"I see... hmm. Let me guess, you bought that bottle of wine from my cupboard? What is it, the Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet? I always thought you'd steal that one. You never could resist a good drink."

 

"That predictable huh?" Fury asked, holding out the bottle for him to inspect. "The 2008 magnum. I checked, it's worth seven thousand dollars."

"I only paid two thousand, but I suppose that's one of those things... not what you know but who..."

"Who you know is mainly a bunch of HYDRA agents. Anyway, Alex, let's not." Fury poured out the drink, and passed one glass through the slot in the wall. "Let's not think about that today."

 

"Just like the old days." Pierce nodded, taking the glass and raising it. "To the victors."

"To SHIELD." Fury raised his glass in return. Pierce chuckled.

"I thought we weren't doing that today Nick."

 

                                                                                                     

**Two hundred and thirty four days since the Potomac Incident**

"No Christmas songs today?" Pierce asked, looking up at Fury and taking in the bruise to the side of his head, and the sling his arm was in. "Not feeling so festive now?"

"Just a minor issue. Not that it's anything to do with you."

"But you're injured and you come running... tell me, was it to see if I was safe, or to see if I had escaped?"

 

"You've got no chance of getting out of here Alex. I'm the only one who knows you are here."

"Until HYDRA takes the base."

 

"HYDRA won't." Fury snorted, pulling up a list of bases from his phone. SHIELD logos covered two thirds of the list. "We're winning."

"And you're sure about that?" Pierce asked. "Because in my experience, most of the time winners aren't the ones with broken arms and dislocated shoulders."

 

"Winners hold most of the bases. And right now, your men are on the run. I told you, my men and women fight for what is right and-"

"The Arctic base? We still holding that one?" Pierce frowned, his eyes focussing on the list. "You sure you want Hydra there?"

"Oh, I've got the best working on it."

"Romanoff I assume, unless you've managed to get Rogers back in the game. Bad choice there Nick. She was never yours. All this time you think she's been loyal, thought she chose... she was just passed from Red Room to HYDRA. A job lot with the Winter Soldier and a few bombs."

 

"She chose SHIELD, not HYDRA."

"We could still use her. And she was useful to HYDRA in her own way." Pierce answered, settling down more comfortably on the bed. "Very useful."

"She made the choice herself." Fury insisted, and Pierce laughed softly to himself.

"She has been making a lot of choices, hasn't she? Did you ever think that they were the wrong ones?"

 

Fury fell silent, watching Pierce closely. It was hard sometimes to tell if he was being serious, if he was just playing a game or if there was something darker hinted beyond his words.

"Romanoff is a good agent."

"She is. And she sacrificed everything to try and alert the world to HYDRA. I am sure you are proud, I certainly am. But in doing so, she scattered our message, our files, our plans... It might have made things harder for you, but in a way it made things..." He paused, clearly choosing his words. "It made things simpler for us. She would have been a good HYDRA agent, but she was too loyal. Served her purpose though."

 

Fury turned and walked away. His head hurt, and he didn't want to deal with this.

 

 

**Three hundred and forty eight days since the Potomac Incident**

It had been over three months since Fury had found time to visit Pierce. The tide seemed to have turned. Base after base had fallen, and while they'd managed to reclaim most, there had been far too many casualties. Now, the fighting had got closer than ever, and Fury was angry. Angry and tired. He'd written too many obituaries, made up too many lies to cover the deaths of good agents. Men and women he had relied upon, dying on both sides, and it needed to end.

 

"Pierce, I don't know what you're playing, but whatever you know, you have to tell me. I'm getting fucking fed up of just waiting for you... this isn't a game any more." He paced up and down in front of the cell, feeling anger burning inside of him, making his hands shake.

 

"I don't know how you did it Pierce. But after you saw that list... bases in the middle of nowhere, ones hardly anyone knew... I don't know how you did it. But it is going to fucking stop. You ... HYDRA lost almost a year ago. You have lost. For the past year... there've been deaths, there've been lives lost and pain and there's no reason to it because you're never going to win. This continual fighting... all it's doing is costing lives."

 

"Honestly Nick. They are just pawns." Pierce looked at the book in front of him with apathy, slowly turning a page. "I don't know why you're being so angry at me, I did warn you about what would happen if HYDRA didn't win. But I can't do anything. I'm just in a cell."

 

Fury had heard enough.

 

 

**Four hundred days since the Potomac Incident**

Fury sat at his desk, staring at the photograph in his hand in confusion. He knew everything about that man, knew his smile, the cut of his hair, the way his clothes hung around his body, shaped around legs that Fury remembered maybe a little too well. It was Pierce. Not the man in the cells, but a younger him, from decades back when they had first met. The photo had been taken yesterday, at the Arctic base.

 

He frowned, looking at it for a few more moments, then deciding he would need to go to Pierce with this. He had been avoiding him, certain that he was somehow managing to manipulate everything, but now he would have to ask what was going on.

 

He headed back to the cell, feeling concerned. Pierce was sat on the bed like he always was, and as Fury approached he raised his head.

"We uploaded Zola in the seventies." He said softly, giving up any pretence at feigning ignorance. "We've had forty years since then, and LMD's have been so useful. Wireless communication technology is a wonderful thing..."

 

"You bastard Alex." Fury snarled. "You're still controlling this."

"Cut off one head... I'll admit, the younger versions of myself are a particularly literal version of that, but still..."

"All this time?” Fury asked, realising how foolish he had been.

"I needed something to keep me busy. You wouldn't give me anything good to read Nick. Maybe if you'd kept me entertained..."

Fury stormed out, the photograph crumpling in his hand. He'd deal with finding a way of blocking wireless signals to the cell.

 

 

**Four hundred and thirty four days since the Potomac Incident**

For the past month, the wireless signals to the cell had been blocked. Fury still hadn't worked out how Alex was gathering them in the first place, but it wasn't through want of trying. Now that their conversations were private, tactics had been discussed more easily. In a way, it reminded him of before. Of their time together when they had been younger, when Pierce had been the man that was now in the Arctic, and he had been able to look at him with both eyes.

 

Pierce had been happy enough to feed him little pieces of information, as the chess pieces lined up for the final move. Bases had started to crumble, the war closing in. Soon it would be over, but first they needed to talk. The two kings, facing each other with only a thin wall between them. They stood now, face to face.

 

"How many bases do you have left now Nick? Your heroes might still be fighting, but they'll be the only ones, soon enough. Order through pain might not be the easiest lesson to learn, but it's one of the most memorable..." For a moment, Pierce was silent, before he began again. "We can try and bring SHIELD on side, of course, but most of them are too loyal. Shallow graves, I suppose... and as for the heroes? Barnes will be rid of those soon enough."

 

"You really think you're winning?" Fury looked at him in surprise. "You've already lost."

"If I'd lost, you wouldn't be so eager to see me." Pierce answered him. "If I'd lost, you'd bring me a paper, or a photograph... you always did love to gloat Nick. It was a weakness that I’ve always been able to use. We haven't lost. We're winning."

 

"Always so cocky Alex. So full of yourself."

"I see the world as it is. You were the one that thought... I don't even know what it is that you thought. That somehow you could control us... that the patient could stop the cancer that was spreading inside her by sheer force of will... you always were the cocky one Nick. Always so sure. Where's that confidence gone?"

 

Fury snorted and shook his head.

"I still believe in my men."

"Then you're alone in that. Like I said Nick. Cocky."

Fury stepped away as his phone rang, seeing Maria's number of the screen, He flipped it open as he walked away. Alone in his cell, Alexander smirked.

 

 

**Four hundred and sixty days since the Potomac Incident**

Pierce unlocked the cell door and pushed it open, glancing at Fury in the room beyond. He was standing by the glass, sheer anger glinting hotly in his eyes.

 

Chuckling to himself, Pierce raised one hand in greeting.

"Hail HYDRA."


End file.
